grey

For now I am the winter
beneath the mask
revealed beneath the
cold water of the sea.

Eyes open to the sky
above the surface
breath held as snow begins.

For now I am the winter
overtaking the autumn
slowing rivers and lakes
the graying sky swallows the sun.

For now I am the winter
beneath tall trees
releasing snow and ice
as they bow toward the earth.

Emerging from the trees shadow
I stopped moving,
looked up at the winter sky
and finally breathed, inhaling
this world, this scene, and exhaled
what has been holding me back,
what has become the burdens I carry.

As the sun sinks
into the grey water
we watch one year
become another from
atop the cliff over
the white valley.

(2)

As we run beneath the
rising moon, the moon
becomes us and we become
light.

(3)

To the normal routine
one year has passed and
another arrived.

To the natural world,
nothing has changed as
the sun rises over the water,
birds take to the sky,
and birth and death continue.

To the human I am in this
routine and natural world,
the challenges remain, the past
is remembered, yet I have let it go
enough to not be a hindrance,
but a lesson and I vow to be better
today than I was yesterday.